GhanjRho's page

Kingmaker got an update because the video game did very well, and it didn’t disturb the metaplot to move it back into 2e’s timeframe. If any other AP were going to get a redo, I’d say probably just Rise of the Runelords, sometime around 2027 for the 20th Anniversary. But that’s it.

Think of the Psion/Wilder list as list A, and the six discipline lists as lists B-G. A generalist can only take from A, while a specialist can take from both A and one of B-G. Now, if there's a particular power on a prohibited list that they want, they can take the Expanded Knowledge feat and grab it.

Weapon Group Adaptation is really only necessary if you plan on using a lot of saving throw-provoking maneuvers. Now, 2 of the 4 ranged touch strikes do have saving throws, but only for fear effects, which is very tenuous to build on. With that in mind, unless you have some other effect beyond the base +2 DC, I wouldn't (with your build). It's still a good feat, but not really worth taking to provide a little extra edge on what seems to be an ace in the hole.

New year, new update!

We've gotten into Book 4, Act 2 (the party has just been given the mission to ally with Chargammon). Among the recent notable events:

The party as a whole has just reached level 14.
Antipaladin has become a full vampire (using the feats option).
They've made a deal with Baroness Vanya (who they've already agreed to make Duchess of Daveryn).
They managed to completely avoid the army at the Vale (due to having their minions man the gate), which means that they have not learned that the Fire-Axe will lead his army to be slaughtered.
The Master Spy is turning into a(n un)holy terror; the only reason I haven't really thought about asking him to tone it down is the entire party is getting a kick out of it.
The ranger managed to one-hit-kill Rodrigo of the Balleryn School(the only reason he lived was the cleric had Breath of Life prepared). x3 crits are nasty.
Their Evil organization has max scores in everything, though it helps that I folded Secrecy and Loyalty into Survivability.

At the moment, my concerns lie largely ahead, especially in Book VI. In this book, my concerns are mostly due to the vampire; specifically the entering of private dwellings problem. Any of Eiremanthus's cohorts can grant an invitation in exchange for the Codex from Polydorus's tower, but the Adarium is likely to be a problem. Will probably have to arrange an encounter with a servant who can grant the needed permissions. In Book 6, it's the action times that concern me most right now. Every thing takes X months, but is that for the whole party? Just one or 2 PCs? And given that the likely future king is a vampire (he traded the ring of Iris of Ghastenhall for a knighthood), the foreign consort event will be all kinds of interesting. But, it could come in handy with Vanya (no need to visit Uncle Gaius if your King can turn you).

Dread Knight wrote:

There is always the option of being a member of The Wayward Path, Path of War Expanded Classes and the trait there that allows you to swap one Martial Discipline with any other one.

The Wayward Path one looks pretty awesome, could take the Int class and swap something out for Veiled. I took a look at the Expanded Classes and the Harbinger looks more along the lines of what I was going for rather than Stalker, so I appreciate that help there. It's pretty darn edgy but it's real cool.

You think Harbinger is edgy now, wait until the Edge Lord archetype hits d20pfsrd. And yes, that is a real archetype that DSP put out in April Augmented.

So, since this got rez'd, I'll give an update on the campaign.

Party consists of:
Human Antipaladin10 (Lord of Darkness archtype, plans to go vamp)
Tiefling Sorcerer10 (Infernal bloodline)
Human Ranger10 (TWF spec, dual-wielding falcatas)
Tiefling Cleric6/Exalted4
Human Sandman Bard6/Assassin1/Master Spy3

Currently in Book 3, with the invasion of the Vale happening next session.

So far, it's actually been going really well. I did wind up using the org rules, though I folded Secrecy and Loyalty into Survivability. Actions taken are largely Criminal Enterprise and Abduct Peasants, with the occasional Monster Hunt for flavor (and hydras. They have 3). They have gotten use out of the spread/find rumors options, though.

The Fighter went Ranger instead on our suggestion (new player, second campaign, only other experience is playing a Wilder), and is enjoying being a whirlwind of death, though he's gotten KS'd by the sorcerer a few times. I've given him some optimization help (dual-wielded falcatas for the win!)

The Antipaladin is being played by the groups resident serious RPer, and the Lord of Darkness archetype from book 5 has come in handy to him, especially the charmed and commanded cruelties (commanded let him end the Izevel fight in two rounds.) He exchanged Iris's ring for a knighthood for his social identity (no vigilante levels or features, just use of the hat of disguise and roleplay).

In retrospect, I should have let them kill Sir Richard at the Horn, but enough of the moving pieces fit together that I was able to let him escape. At the cost of the lives of his entire party (I fluffed the plot ability to pierce the veil as requiring the uncoerced sacrifice of a being of pure heart. So when they encounter him next, he's gonna be royally pissed off, and guilt-wracked, and for his opening number he left the antipaladin with 4 hit points left in one attack.

Psionics Unleashed was the original. It has since been revised to include the errata and some newer material.

Psionics Expanded is the first major expansion, including original DSP material and some minor system reworks. Think of it as the psionic APG.

Ultimate Psionics is a compilation of Psionics Unleashed, Psionics Expanded, and the first Psionics Augmented (Vol. 1).

Psionics Embodied is the psionic NPC Codex.

Psionics Augmented Volume 1 is a standalone that contains all of the new material written for Ultimate Psionics, allowing people that already had Psionics Unleashed and Psionics Expanded to not pay for material they already had.

The other Psionics Augmented releases (Soulknife and Wilder so far) are short, PDF-only option packs for the listed class.

Psionic Bestiary contains lots of psionic monsters.

In short: Ult Psi is your main source. All the races, all the classes, most of the archtypes. Psi Aug: Soulknife and Psi Aug: Wilder give those classes more options. Psi Emb gives you lots of NPCs and Psi Bestiary gives you enemies.

Sorry if this was answered before, but will the Path of War be compiled into 1 rule book much like Psionics Expanded? If so do you know whwen that might happen?

There has been talk of an Ultimate Warpath book, but their current position is "we'd love to do it, but it's not on the schedule". Personally, I'd wait for news until after they've done the PoW errata, and maybe a PoW:E errata.

I've never actually backed something at a limited pledge level before.

Cross that one off the bucket list.

Thanks, that's helpful.

Hopefully that's out soon, I'm looking forward to getting it.

I believe that it is currently in layout. After it's out the door, I think the PoW errata is next, then a break from PoW material.

+20 and +30. 3xSTR, not 3xSTR-and-a-half.

Also, calm down. One hour is hardly grounds to panic that no one will answer you.

Well, the party now includes a Tiefling Sorceror (with a blasting focus, Infernal bloodline) and the Human Fighter is going Tiefling TWF Ranger. So not only are the entire party Tieflings, but all of them are of different extractions.

First, my plan is that any player uncomfortable can just text me, which I used as my system for player notes in my last campaign.

I have all 7 books, I think that adding Sir Richard early on in Book 1 is probably best.

I just got confirmation on a fifth player, who wants to fill the holes in the party. I'm thinking either archer ranger or maybe a primary arcane.

At the request of my players, I'm putting Talingarde in Golarion. I'm keeping Mitra, while leaving his precise nature unspecified. The army in Book 6 is largely Chelish.

What in particular is bad about the organization rules from Book 2?

Starting a Way of the Wicked campaign next week, and am looking for any advice or tips that anyone can offer. The party consists of:

Tiefling Antipaladin
Tiefling Fiendish Vessel Cleric/Exalt
Tiefling Sandman Bard/Assassin/Master Spy
Human Fighter.

I used the +2 skills suggested rule, 25 point buy, and everybody gets a free rank in all class skills at level 1. Hit points are half HD +1 per level.

It'll make you quiver in anticip...

PATION!

Gorbacz wrote:

White Wolf didn't collapse because they went digital. Heck, they never really did - what killed them was the decision to reboot all their profitable lines with something that wasn't quite as well received.

I take it you're ready to stomach the increasing prices of print products? Paper is dying, mobile is on the rise, things will only get worse from now on if you're in the "let's party like it's 1778 all over again" camp.

White Wolf is dead as a doornail, they cannot even produce their own product line. Onyx Path has to do it for them as a third-party company, and even so, they need kickstater funds to get anything released.

The company was fine, even after their reboot of the World of Darkness lines, until the CCP online gaming buyout disaster happened. A decade later and we're still waiting on the World of Darkness MMO? Yeah, brilliant business that...

So much wrong with this post.

White Wolf is a brand, wholly owned by CCP and has been since the buyout. Onyx Path Publishing bought out Scion, Aberrant, and Trinity and has licensed Exalted, the World of Darkness and the Classic World of Darkness. And no, they do not "need Kickstarter funds to get anything released". The Kickstarters are for Deluxe Editions of new major books. The last few Kickstarters have actually had the (almmost) full text of the book available for review. Additionally, none of the World of Darkness Second Edition books have been kickstarted.

And no, we aren't waiting for the World of Darkness MMO. It's been officially cancelled for months.

I'm working on a guide for PoW newbies right now (aimed more at players than DMs, admittedly), and any ideas would be appreciated.

Some assorted thoughts:

For the Harbinger, I'd lean in favor of Riven Hourglass. It completes the set of all supernatural disciplines.

On the subject of 6th level caster archtypes, some (expanded) stuff from the other forum:

Alchemist. Keep the casting. Trade out bombs and poison use/resistance. Possibly tie it into the mutagen. Broken Blade (they have lots of ways to get natural attacks), Steel Serpent, and a supernatural discipline (maybe Veiled Moon).
Bard. Lose the casting. It's secondary enough to the theme that it can be dropped, and Bard still has a very solid chassis without it. Give it Scarlet Throne, Eternal Guardian, and Golden Lion. Not a lot of offense, but support coming out it's ears
Inquisitor. Keep the casting. It needs it to be distinct from the Stalker, if nothing else. I'd say drop Solo Tactics and the Domain/Inquisition.
Magus. Keep it. Drop Spel Recall, Knowledge Pool, medium + heavy armor proficiency, and maybe Spellstrike. Rewrite Spell Combat to work alongside strikes not full attacks. Scarlet Throne, Primal Fury and Cursed Razor.
Warpriest. Very much keep it. Lose Blessings and Sacred Weapon, maybe Sacred Armor.

Traditions were play tested prior to the first book's release. Additionally, the first book included traditions for: Black Seraph, Silver Crane, Primal Fury, Iron Tortoise, Scarlet Throne, and Veiled Moon.

Even more to the point, domain spells are designed to be an add-on to the standard cleric list, not the basis for a spell list. More to the point, the paladin list is a very good list, and a large part of the Paladin's power. Nerfing the paladin might make sense in a lower baseline campaign, but if the other melee is a Zweihander Sentinel Warder, well....

I don't know if the glory that is the falcata is worth taking a -4 on all your attacks. Something worth considering if you plan on using an exotic weapon anyway, is the Sawtooth Saber. 1d8 19-20/x2 that counts as a light weapon for the purposes of TWF and TWF only. Keep one in a Glove of Storing or on a weapon cord and you can switch between TWF and THF depending on your need.

When you purchase your Cracked Opalescent White Pyramid(s), remember to get them implanted. It only takes a couple mid-20 DC Heal checks, and you don't have to worry about them being snatched or sundered.

Changing Man wrote:

Andreas Rönnqvist wrote:

So, since people asked for it, we've released a full-color softcover version of the book:

Get it now at DriveThruRPG

We'll see if we can offer it through other venues too, but for now, and the only for sure place to get it, is the above! :)

Most excellent :)

Was I mistaken, or hadn't I read somewhere that subscribers would get some sort of %-off the print copy?

Yes, you should get it at $10 off.

This is news to me. How should I have accessed this? Is the ~60$ I just spent locked in?

Ordered 2; color for me, B&W for my players

Flagged this to be moved to Compatible Products.

It would seem that the second augment is the source of your confusion. Well, at the root. The "divided among all targets healed" line is in reference to use of the second augment. Note that without Spirit of Many, it is not innately a [Network] power, so the power description ignores any Spirit of Many effects. But the second augment lets you affect multiple creatures in a small area, so the rules say it's divided, not multiplied in that circumstance.

Doomed Hero wrote:

There's only one exotic weapon in the game that is arguably worth a feat. It's the Falcata.

Okay, I'll give. What's special about the Falcata? I understand swooning over the Fauchard, but what am I missing about the Falcata?

Hmm

It's the only weapon in Pathfinder that simultaneously has a threat range greater than 20 and a critical multiplier higher that x2. 19-20/x3 on a d8 one-handed weapon is amazing. Especially since you can still two-hand it.

It's largely a choice I've made based on my group composition. I don't have any traditional spellcasters in the party, with the arcane and divine roles being filled by a wilder and a vitalist. In practice (for me), it's given a little versatility to the wilder and covered some of the low-level weaknesses of the vitalist. It helps that I'm not introducing very many psionic items.

I'm running a RotRL campaign right now (midway through book 2) with 3 psionic characters (Soulthief Vitalist, crafting-focus Aegis, and blasting Wilder) and I have made a few changes to facilitate

Knowledge(psionics) counts as Knowledge(Arcana) for all intents and purposes

Wilders are considered to have access to the Sorcerer/Wizard spell list and Vitalists have access to the Cleric/Oracle spell list for the purposes of UMD.

Full transparency, obviously.

The first thing to go over is the four types of maneuvers: boosts, stances, counters, and strikes.

Stances are always-on effects. You spend a swift action at any time to enter a stance, and you remain in that stance until you are rendered helpless or unconscious. Stances can increase damage, AC, saving throws, or speed; boost skills; grant abilities and more.

Boosts are short duration buffs. They cost a swift action to activate, and last for one round. They can add damage, ability damage, let you ignore DR, take a move action, etc. Boosts are noteworthy for being able to affect a full attack.

Counters are defensive maneuvers. They cost an immediate action to perform, meaning you either cannot have used a swift action on your turn, or you lose your swift next turn (for this reason I suggest prioritizing boosts or counters, but not necessarily to the point of exclusivity). Counters let you counterattack, replace AC and saving throws with skill checks, or even temporarily shrug off conditions.

And finally, strikes. Strikes are the most prominent part of an initiator's arsenal, being the replacement for a full attack. Strikes come in standard action and full action varieties. To initiate a strike, you make one or more (usually melee) attacks, as determined by the maneuver's description. For example, in order to initiate the Veiled Moon strike Flicker Strike, I make a single melee attack, which the strike modifies to let me target flat-footed AC.

As for the Disciplines themselves, each one is a group of thematically similar maneuvers, separated into nine levels (it can be helpful to think of them as being similar to schools of magic or psionic disciplines). Each discipline has a discipline skill, which one or more maneuvers from the discipline will make use of; and three associated weapon groups (except for Solar Wind, which has four), which grant a DC bonus when used. Additionally, in order to qualify for a disciplines higher-level maneuvers, an initiator must know multiple maneuvers of that discipline, up to knowing at least 4 for the 9th level maneuvers.

The Path of War disciplines, with their general themes:
Broken Blade, unarmed combat and combat maneuvers
Black Seraph, brutality and [Evil]
Golden Lion, leadership
Iron Tortoise, defensiveness and shield use
Primal Fury, heavy damage and charging
Scarlet Throne, dueling and nobility
Silver Crane, healing and [Good]
Solar Wind, ranged combat
Thrashing Dragon, two-weapon fighting
Veiled Moon, teleportation and etherealness.

That's way faster than I expected. And considering you already have the iconic art ready, I guess the subscription will be available soon-ish.

Really liked the PoW1 - I'm adapting a boss from the first part of RotRL into a warlord, and the options to hurt the players are incredible.

I gave Nualia Warlord levels (sprinkling in some Black Seraph) and Orik was rebuilt as a Warder (after I gave him a 14 INT). For book 2, the Misgivings boss and Skinsaw priest got their rogue levels replaced with stalker (near monofocus on Steel Serpent). Working quite well

Something like this, maybe?

A Warpriest draws spells from the Inquisitor, Paladin and Antipaladin spell lists. If a spell appears at multiple levels, it is given at the lowest level. A Warpriest is bound by both their alignment and their deity's alignment, and cannot cast spells in opposition to either alignment. For example, a True Neutral warpriest of Gorum cannot cast spells with the [Lawful] descriptor, due to Gorum's Chaotic Neutral alignment, while a Chaotic Good warpriest of Gorum could not cast spells with the [Evil] descriptor.

Abjurant Champion. Such a fun little Gish class.

GhanjRho wrote:

GhanjRho wrote:

Just got the final. Love the look and feel of it. As of right now, the only change I'd make is in the stance progression, specifically moving the 4th stance back one level (to IL 9). This gives the 5th-level stances some better play space, avoiding lumping them in with the 6th level stances. And if the initiator doesn't have access to 5ths, they just take another 3rd

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Specifically moving the stances gained at 8th (and possibly 11th) back one level?

Stances tend to be pretty potent always on, or at least renewable abilities. I'm not sure introducing them earlier is necessarily a good idea. It promotes even more early level dipping/cherry picking of abilities.

Also from previous posts I believe they were attempting to makes stances more attractive for use over a character's career. Meaning that even though a stance might be gained and another stance shortly after, the one isn't being so much replaced by a better version, as the newer stance probably offers a different ability in the same theme. That 5th level stance would retain relevance in comparison to the 6th level as well. They would still both have their uses, though maybe in different situations.

First off, this wouldn't give you a stance earlier. At least, not any earlier than your IL would allow. The problem is that you have some disciplines with stances at 5th level, some with stances at 6th level, and some with stances at both. What shifting the 4th stance back a level would do is open it up. If you have a discipline that gives a 5th level stance, you don't need to wait two levels to get it, and you don't need to give up a feat or a 6th level stance for it.

Just got the final. Love the look and feel of it. As of right now, the only change I'd make is in the stance progression, specifically moving the 4th stance back one level (to IL 9). This gives the 5th-level stances some better play space, avoiding lumping them in with the 6th level stances. And if the initiator doesn't have access to 5ths, they just take another 3rd

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Specifically moving the stances gained at 8th (and possibly 11th) back one level?

Just got the final. Love the look and feel of it. As of right now, the only change I'd make is in the stance progression, specifically moving the 4th stance back one level (to IL 9). This gives the 5th-level stances some better play space, avoiding lumping them in with the 6th level stances. And if the initiator doesn't have access to 5ths, they just take another 3rd

Did they keep it where some disciplines have a stance at 5th and some at 6th? That one crept up on me just recently.

Odraude wrote:

I will never understand the draw to Doctor Who.

Moffat says it quite succinctly...

“When they made this particular hero, they didn’t give him a gun, they gave him a screwdriver to fix things. They didn’t give him a tank or a warship or an x-wing fighter, they gave him a call box from which you can call for help. And the didn’t give him a superpower or pointy ears or a heat ray, they gave him an extra heart. They gave him two hearts. And that’s an extraordinary thing; there will never come a time when we don’t need a hero like the doctor.”
- Steven Moffat

And then Moffat began screwing things up. But still.

Awesome! Can't wait until I have the physical book in my hands.

The 5th stance is gained at a weird place; it's one level before you qualify for 8th-level stances. As it stands, you can't get an 8th-level stance until 20 without a feat.

Is there an answer on why some of the 1st-level stances scale and others don't?

Couple more.

p.96 Description states that Solar Wind maneuvers can only be used with weapons from the bow, crossbow and thrown groups; all other sources add the firearms group

I recall from the playtest that Solar Wind maneuvers specifically were not meant to work with firearms, due to the higher damage level. What changed?

Further, while some of the 1st-level damage-boosting stances now scale, some don't. Pugilist Stance (Broken Blade), Scarlet Einhander (Scarlet Throne), Body of the Night(Steel Serpent), and Outer Sphere Stance (Trashing Dragon) do not scale up with one die/8 IL. Additionally both Snapping Turtle Stance (Iron Tortoise) and Savage Stance (Black Seraph), the short description does not scale, while the long description does.

Dragon Warrior's Talons (Thrashing Dragon); does the listed bleed damage stack with itself?

What I've caught so far:

p.69, the Lord of the Pridelands long description doesn't include the type of maneuver. If it's still a boost, like it was in the Warlord release, then why is it a standard action? The initiator would only be able t ogain the benefit himself on AoOs.

The Dragon Fury has a text/table discrepancy. The table lists new stances gained at 3rd and 8th, while the text only lists one gained at 3rd.

Layout error, the table of maneuvers and spells known for the Mage Hunter class is in the middle of the Dragon Fury writeup, and unlabeled.

More as I see them.

So I went over to the Path of War area and I'm confused at what to buy. Do I buy the Work In Progress or the three class books that are there?

Work in Progress. Included within are the three class books and an additional content book containing archetypes and prestige classes. Oh, and the penultimate draft of the full book, which renders the first four obsolete.

*headdesk* Yes, that was aimed at you, Prince. Blame my phone. And for the record, the PDF of the Eberron core is $15 on DnDClassics. As for alignment, I would certainly be interested in more E-aligned iconics. I think that by this point it's become a self-maintaining loop; one-dimensional Evil NPCs lead to the impression that Evil is one-dimensional, which discourages nuanced Evil NPCs from being written. And what nuanced Evil portrayals exist trend sharply towards the Lawful end, if for no other reason than it's easier, due to the interplay between Lawful(which as you've said, has connotations of being better, if not more Good) and Evil.
Consider the Golarion deities; Asmodeus has more depth and interest than Lamashtu and Rovagug put together.

On a different note entirely, just downloaded the updated WIP. On the whole, I love the changes. Spotted some issues, though. Should I post as I find them? Collect them in one doc? Post them on a particular forum(I'm on here, the Playground and DSP's home board)? Shoot you an email?

I'm gonna take a stab in the dark and guess that you were a fan of Eberron, ErrantX. That's pretty much how it work in that campaign setting; one of the major NPCs plans to restart a war that ravages the continent with the goal of unifying it under her rule. Her alignment? Neutral Good. Why? Because she runs a benevolent empire and believes that she's the best choice to improve the loves of everyone.

My iron rule as a DM is that all PCs need a reason to be team players. My soft rule is that NE and CE are off-limits without good reason, just because of what you need to do to get them to work (LE has better reasons to work in a group). For Jewel, I think that Ana is a wonderous source of plot hooks and motivations. Or maybe she's searching for something to change her race.

Jewel feels much, much more LE than CE to me. Between basically running a city, taking care of the people around her, and her goal of building a better world, she feels very lawful to me. Just her own laws. Surprised Ana hasn't detected her.

As for the second question, f*** yes. With the understanding that she wouldn't be able to draw upon the Rabble in most play (a quest to regain control after an unfortunate accident takes out/neutralizes Ana might allow her to use those resources).

For reference, Kineticists aren't the only ones who can shift energy types without expending focus. Wilders can as well, but only while Wild Surging.

Contemplative Wilder. Vitalist. Erudite Psion to a degree. I think Tactician, but I'm not sure.

At level twelve you have a +5 mind blade, with a maximum enhancement bonus of +4. Forming two blades reduces your enhancement bonus by 1, which gives you 2 +4 mind blades with a +4 enhancement cap. It is take the reduction and duplicate, not take the reduction and split.

So no, it is not correct. Especially since you should never have unused enhancements. There is no chance of you having too much enhancement bonus to spend. I'm honestly not sure what made you think that.

You might want to consider some of the following blade skills:
Alter Blade, which allows you to form a one-handed weapon and light weapon
Full Enhancement, which removes the penalty for forming two blades
Improved Enhancement, which increases your enhancement by +1
Twin Strike, which lets you attack with both weapons on standard attacks and AoO's.
Improved Furious Charge lets you expend for a half-pounce
Emulate Melee Weapon to give your mind blade the profile of a wakizashi.

Re: Pirahna Strike; ahh, dang it. For a second I thought Paizo let DEX-fighters have nice things.

And I agree it's debatable, and generally I come down on the side of utility (my favorite soulknives are generally Half-giant Gifted Blades, though I'm working on a Dark Tempest build ATM). It's my opinion that a properly built baseline Soulkinfe is better for buckets of damage (or even CHA damage from Knife to the Soul)